Many employers would face great hardship--most have a flexible leave plan now
CONCORD, June 3, 2019 – As the legislature works toward a final budget, NFIB, the leading small business association with thousands of members in New Hampshire, opposes the rigid 12-week paid leave plan established in the Senate and House versions of the state budget which will be debated on Thursday.
“If you have five or ten employees and one is highly trained or has safety certifications, there may not be another employee who can fill their shoes for up to three months, yet this mandate falls on employers of every size,” said Bruce Berke, state director of NFIB in New Hampshire. “Small business owners care for their employees and work out a viable leave arrangement that won’t force the business to come to a screeching halt. It’s the mandated 12-week leave that threatens the existence of these smaller companies.”
“The cost of the mandatory leave policy will be borne by the employer or employee. In either case, the money will come from a finite source of compensation,” added Berke. “It will either be paid out of the employee’s paycheck, which is an income tax, or be paid by the employer and result in slower wage growth for employees. Either way, it is a cost on the balance sheet, and one that will stall economic growth for the business or the employees.”
While such an expanded leave may be workable for larger corporations, or those with many employees, smaller business owners say they will face great hardships that threaten their ability to complete the daily workload. There are small 134,760 small businesses in New Hampshire and they employ about half of the state’s workforce.
“The small business economy is critical to the success every New Hampshire community and it’s residents, and this one-size-fits-all leave policy endangers that vital resource,” added Berke. “On top of the extreme paid leave plan, the Senate version of the budget suspends the last two of four ongoing tax reductions that was approved several years ago. New Hampshire’s small business owners counted on the tax deductions when doing long-range planning, so it’s a double hit.”
NFIB adamantly opposes the elimination of the planned tax reduction and the 12-week leave plan.
